USC Catholic Center Founder Banned Pacquiao

Rick Caruso, the owner of The Grove and the man who announced today that boxing legend Manny Pacquiao would be banned from the premises for his opposition to same-sex marriage, is also the funder of the USC Caruso Catholic Center, a 20,000 square foot church and center. He donated $6 million to the project.

The center has no stated position on same-sex marriage, but Catholic doctrine clearly prohibits it. Father Lawrence Seyer, the head of the Caruso Catholic Center, voted for Proposition 8 to uphold traditional marriage in California, and opposes same-sex marriage.

Seyer celebrated the initial court rulings upholding Proposition 8. “I’m glad to see that the courts maintained that definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, and that they followed the will of voters,” he said at the time. “It’s not discrimination, it’s meant to maintain the definition of marriage,” he said.